Joseph's Last Day

Today was the big day. Joseph is flying through the air right now, on his way to Los Angeles first and from there to Guatemala City. Here's how the day went down. He woke up at 6:30 (following a missionary schedule!) and exercised (I think), then he showered and got dressed because he and Corey were going to go to the Salt Lake temple together. Shooting for the 8:00 or 9:00 session. At 7 a.m. I went up to the Little Cottonwood Trail and got a few more little Granite rocks for him to take - he has 100 now. I called out to the rocks "Who wants to go to Guatemala! Last call for Guatemala!" A few rocks rolled onto the path to volunteer. I was impressed that with the rocks I had before that it worked out that there are 100 for him, and I kept some of the bigger rocks to give to the kids here at home. One rock of the 100 is for Joseph to keep in his pocket, to remind him of home: Home (cause we live close to the old quarry site) Granite (cause it is Granite, and that's our community), of the Temple (cause that's what the Salt Lake Temple is made of), of the Pioneers - their WORK and SACRIFICE to build the temple for their posterity, to remind us of our ANCESTORS and the LEGACY of FAITH they've left for us. So I first picked up rocks a few weeks ago, thinking it would be a fun thing for him to give to people he teaches that decided to be baptized, to remind them that baptism isn't the end, it's just the first step! Next they need to look forward to and prepare to enter the temple - a rock to remind them of the essential covenants we all need to make there. Anyway, so yeah, Joseph is taking a box of rocks down with him in his luggage! Here is his desk, it's looked this way for a while, covered with stacks of books he wants to read, and his mission booklet of the things he has to do to be ready...

You ready for this yet, Joseph? Not yet. at 7:30 Corey took Melodie to a GMS retreat down town and then Corey was going to head over to the SL Temple, Joseph wanted to stay and pack/organize some more until 8:15 and then I'd drive him down. I went downstairs and looked through old printed pictures to see if there were any good ones he might want to take. I did that until 8:20 when he called that he was ready to go.

We got in the car and great.... the gas light was on. Joseph told me we were fine to drive all the way down town. Plus we were cutting in close to get there in time for the 9:00 session. It went against all my better instincts. I don't drive with the gas light on. Joseph does. He told me that once the light was on when he left American Fork after Crescent Band, and he was able to make it from there all the way to Skyline (where a bus was about to leave for a choir performance... he got there with the "miles to empty" sign reading a big "0", and he was still able to drive it from Skyline to a gas station after that - so yeah, 35 miles to empty? I'm totally good. Ok, Mr. Missionary, I'll take your word for it....

But... if I get stuck down town, I'm gonna be ticked! Well, atleast I don't have little kids in the car, so it will be okay, I can walk to a gas station. I did make it down there fine and then I filled up downtown. Although Joseph told me I'd totally be able to make it all the way back home if I wanted. No, Joseph! That is not how we want to live! We want to have oil in our lamps! We want to stay as far away from empty as we can, Be Prepared! Be ready with extra oil/gas to spare, none of this "oh it can wait, you'll be fine, you can make it another 30 miles if you want" attitude. Although I'm glad you've had experience that gives you confidence, I never have let myself be put in this situation where it's this close, so I was nervous, but was happy when I pulled into Chevron.

On the way home I listened to the Killers "Be Still" on repeat and I cried the whole way. This line was about Joseph - "Be still, one day you'll leave, fearlessness on your sleeve." That's Joseph, and today is that one day. He's leaving and he's not nervous about it. I'm not afraid for him either, so I think my tears were mostly emotional. I'm gonna miss him (two years is a long time!) I remember after Corey left for his mission, I let myself spend a day listening to songs that we danced to, esp I remember Sting's "When We Dance" made me depressed and it was torture! I thought I was gonna die, this was no way to cope, thinking about him was gonna kill me, I needed to get something to distract myself, so I did. I got busy and that's my plan this time. I think it will be easier now than it was then, cause I've still got 10 kids here to distract me. But when I'm still, when I'm washing dishes or driving in the car and alone with my thoughts, and if I let them wander to Joseph, I'll probably cry.

So, when I got home, I got online and uploaded some of our new family pictures to Costco one hour for his photo book. They'd be ready at 12:17. I went to pick them up and bought some batteries too. Corey and Joseph weren't back yet.... I had a feeling we were going to be behind schedule. If they made the 9:00 session, they should be done around 11 and back by noon - but they didn't get home until 1:00. Ok guys, we were supposed to be going out for lunch right now... but Joseph still had to pack and arrange things.

He worked hard, had plenty of room, it was just shuffling things around. Wasn't too bad. I helped him, we can feel it, the big moment is here, you're leaving today Joseph! How are our stress levels?

His friend Talmage came over for one last goodbye. Talmage leaves in August for Ecuador.

Lots of kids in his high school class have received their calls, but Joseph is just the second to leave! That's why he had a big turn out at his "farewell" on Sunday, cause everybody is still here. Joseph zipped up the bags, we loaded them in the car.... here we go!

Say "bye house!" It was 2:25 and off we went for lunch. We went out to eat downtown at a place close to where Mel was for her music thing. Corey was thinking Olive Garden, but that would require a reservation, and we never called that in since Joseph was a little behind finishing up. So Chuck A Rama it was again, we'll work passing level 2 of Dining with Kids another time. We went the easy route with Chuck A Rama buffet. The kids loaded up on ice cream. 

Joseph shared an announcement with the kids....

Hard to hear there in the video, plus I got a phone call that cut if off, here is part two -

So Joseph was starting to tell the kids this story - when Joseph was given the Melchizedek Priesthood and was ordained an Elder on May 20th, he told me two days later that he had been impressed to bless me with more children (note, PLURAL! uh-oh!) But he stopped himself cause extended family was there, and cause that wasn't his place to talk or give advice about that, etc... I wasn't thinking about it and wasn't keeping track of time, but looked at my calendar the next morning to find that my period should have started last week, not this week, so I had a pregnancy test on hand and took it was positive. I told Joseph Tuesday night, cause I had been thinking about it for the past 24 hours and felt like it was okay to tell him cause he should know in person, not over email on his mission, and that led to a conversation about his impression during the blessing on Sunday. SO, the moral of the story and lesson Joseph learned was: He was not giving the blessing, God is. He is not supposed to filter the words the Holy Ghost puts in his mouth, it's not on Joseph, it's God's blessing. You say what He tells you to say, and if anyone has questions or problems with it, they can bring it up with Him, it's not on you Joseph. We just need to stay out of God's way. So that has been our secret for the past 5 weeks. My laying around might have tipped the little people off that something was going on, cause my desire to workout has gone out the window since Newport, thus I'm already gaining weight. I hope to kick it back in gear in another two weeks and hopefully have have a fit pregnancy even better than last time cause I'm eating better (or will be once this craving for cheese and cookies goes away).

So that was the big news for the kids. We just knew that we would miss Joseph so much, we had to call in for a replacement, ha. I am due January 14th, just a few days after Joseph's birthday, which also seemed appropriate. SO - we had one last meal together at Chuck A Rama from 3 - 4, then over for 30 minutes of hugs and final goodbyes to Corey's parents and cousins and siblings -

Owen and Daniel will change the most while Joseph is gone. Daniel gave him a good hug, he's a good snuggler.

Joseph will be gone almost half of their entire lives up until now! Life is gonna change, we're all going to grow and learn alot during these next 2 years.
...and then Corey and I took Joseph to the airport. We were all weepy in the car - mostly emotional I guess. Cause we will miss him, but we're excited for him, but it is a big change for our family. As Corey said during our late lunch, the past 18 years have all been prep work for this moment, he's just starting! Joseph's life begins tonight, then everyone sang right away "It starts tonight!!" - Greatest Showman, funny. Getting bags out at the airport -

Riding the skywalk -

Riding the escalator down to Check in -

Checking in his bags -

Corey took a picture of us doing a last group selfie, I'll get that off his phone soon. We kissed him, we all cried, and then he went to security.

He seemed to be in security for a while, and then when he got out, we yelled we loved him, and then there was another Elder going to Guatemala. and we shouted that over to Joseph, and he waited there for him - kinda waiting for a companion. We just stared at him in the distance for 15-20 minutes

The other Elder finally got through security, we did a final wave, and then they walked away to their gate. We stayed at tried to see him until he was out of sight. It was 5:40. They weren't flying out until 8:15. So he had a while to wait but he's in the air now, on his way, his life begins tonight! Or early tomorrow morning. You've got a great adventure ahead of you Joseph, we love you!